One of the most beautiful beaches of Lake Garda deleted

08 October 2024

Malcesine.
 The Garda cycle route continues to remain in the spotlight, criticised on several fronts, now also by the Malcesine senator Aurora Floridia. What made the Green and Left Alliance exponent react was in particular the final stretch of the work, which falls on Veneto territory, in Malcesine. In recent days, just north of the hamlet of Navene, bulldozers began digging along the coast, in the Baitone area, just before the tunnels on the Gardesana road leading to Trentino. ‘The work has wiped out one of the most beautiful and unspoilt beaches on Lake Garda,’ Floridia points out.

The planned work. 
The intervention is part of the first section of lot 6, which starts from Baitone and arrives at the northern entrance of the Navene-Cantone tunnel, contracted by Veneto Strade and on which just under EUR 7.5 million has been invested, financed by FCC, Fondo Comuni Confinanti. It starts at the junction with the cycle path along the beach between Baitone and the Villa Monica hotel: from here the route will run along the west side of the carriageway, where the existing pavement will be widened and a new one will be created straddling the bridge under which the Valle Bova stream passes.
The route continues towards the Valle Mastella, which at the point between the Val Mastella arch bridge and the southern entrance to the Navene-Cantone tunnel will see the construction of the track outside the carriageway of the S.R: 249 with cantilevered structures. In the section parallel to the Navene-Cantone natural road tunnel on the side facing the lake, a new 220-metre tunnel will be built, divided inside into specific paths for bicycles and pedestrians, separated by road markings. At the northern and southern entrances to the tunnel, a deck with a view of the lake is planned.
‘While recognising the importance of sustainable mobility, I am outraged by the devastating impact of the Garda cycle route on the Navene coast, one of the last stretches of natural beaches and uncontaminated environments, now irreversibly compromised,’ emphasises Floridia, among other things a member of the Environment Committee in the Senate, who makes this not only an environmental but also a safety issue.
‘A precious natural oasis, frequented by tourists and families, is being wiped out. We do not understand the logic behind the decision to sacrifice such an important resource with a project that not only defaces the territory but also increases the safety risks for cyclists,' the senator notes. 

Dangers.
For Floridia, ‘the tunnels between Navene and Torbole, already dangerous due to their shape and heavy traffic, will become even more critical. The parallel tunnel that is to be built will come to a halt and will force cyclists to pour into the road tunnel that is already clogged with traffic. This infrastructure, which is costing the public purse more and more, is not a solution to the problems of sustainable mobility. On the contrary, these antiquated choices are suffocating an area already affected by overbuilding and overtourism,' attacks the MP, who is ready to take to the streets to demonstrate.
‘I will commit myself to stopping this devastation with the associations and citizens, also through the general mobilisation of the territory, to protect a natural and tourist heritage that risks disappearing due to short-sighted and harmful regional political decisions. For Raffaello Boni, president of the Garda-Baldo area of Legambiente, ‘this work is creating a huge environmental disaster, destroying the territory.’


Read the full article by Emanuele Zanini in the Arena of 02 October.